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3:10 To Yuma [2007]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Action and Adventure
starring: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol, Dallas Roberts
directed by: James Mangold

January 28, 2008
Talk about mixing a good-old-fashioned Western with modern-day lifestyles - here's a cowboy in 1880s Arizona with debt problems, mortgage arrears and who might lose his ranch as a result! Maybe the credit crunch isn't such news after all. But instead of repossession, in those days the lenders tended to set fire to your property, so hopefully we have progressed a little.

This is an attractively-shot movie with a really good musical score and a couple of A-listers in Bale and Crowe, all of which combines to make for good if sometimes rather violent visual and aural entertainment. It starts off reasonably enough, with financially-stressed Evans (Bale) agreeing to help put captured villian Wade (Crowe) on a train - that's the 3:10 to ... Read More:

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Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones [2002]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Action and Adventure
starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson
directed by: George Lucas

November 11, 2002
after the awful phantom menace this is if anything worse,the acting is awful as is the scripting and the film is also very boring.one of the worst star wars films

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Lost - The Complete Third Season [2007] [2005]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Action and Adventure
starring: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Dominic Monaghan

October 22, 2007
The first series of Lost was excellent. It had a good basic idea, some interesting characters and some good plotlines (although some silly ones). Season 2 was a pleasant surprise, and was much better than I expected. Season 3 fulfilled all of my expectations, and was horrible.

I knew this was going to happen because of Alias. Alias was another great idea which ran on for far too long, and both series give me exactly the same impression. I imagine the writers sitting in a room at the start of each episode, and saying to each other "OK, now how can we jerk the audience around totally in this episode?"

Because that's all they do. They keep the suspense by constantly switching back and forth, making the good guys into bad guys and vice versa. ... Read More:

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Iron Man (with Free Marvel Iron Man Comic Book, Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk)

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Action and Adventure
starring: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges
directed by: Jon Favreau

October 27, 2008
It's reasonably clean family viewing if you're into super heroes and big boy's toys. Well I liked it!
It's worth watching just to see the suit being fitted to Tony Stark (Rob Downey jr).

Iron man is pretty 2d character in the comics (in my opinion), but thanks to the marvels of CGI the best thing about him - his suit - is brought marvelously to life. Add to that some good performances from Downey and Co, plus a half decent plot and you get a pretty good movie.

I saw this at the cinema and loved it! I saw The Dark Knight on the other hand and was disappointed. This is comic book escapism and good clean fun (if memory serves me right) and stands comfortably besides Spiderman and the newer Superman movie.

In short, I recommend it!

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Sharpe - The Complete Series (15 Disc Box Set)

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Action and Adventure
starring: Sean Bean

September 19, 2005
My boyfriend has all the books and a couple of the DVDs. I thought it wouldn't be my thing at all cos not into history or war but after watching his DVD got totally hooked and bought the box set!! Think it is totally entertaining and wish there was more to watch. Great hangover watching.

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Iron Man (2-Disc Ultimate Edition) [2008]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Action and Adventure
starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges
directed by: Jon Favreau

October 27, 2008
Having stumbled across the trailer for Iron Man some months before the movies actual release, I found myself in an interesting situation. Iron Man had never really held that much appeal for me in the comics, although his appearances in various Marvel arcade games was always a welcome one. I guess this actually demonstrates part of the problem, in that the suit outweighed the stories, for me and for a lot of people.

From the moment I saw that trailer though, I was converted, I have to say. Not only was it an INSPIRED piece of casting to have semi-tamed wild child and renowned addict Downey, jr. as Stark, it showed brilliantly how Stark, this unimpeded man finally has to grow up and accept responsibility (and without the aid of Uncle Ben and his "With great power, comes ... Read More:

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The Batman Legacy (Batman/Batman Returns/Batman Forever/Batman and Robin)

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Action and Adventure
starring: George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson
directed by: Joel Schumacher, Tim Burton

October 03, 2005
I am rather surprised by the negative ratings of this set. It is quite clear that it contains the one disc versions, and if, like me you just want the first four Batman films then this set is a brilliant, very cost effective way of getting them.

All films are presented in Dolby 5.1 surround sound which, particularly on the last two discs, is extremely effective and really adds to the films.

I enjoyed all four films but in different ways and for different reasons. "Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin" are far more like the sixties TV show, which I don't find a bad thing as they make fun, entertaining viewing. The first two Burton films are darker and probably closer to the original comic (although I must confess I haven't read the comics!); however I found the ... Read More:

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Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom & Last Crusade) [1981]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Action and Adventure
starring: Harrison Ford, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, Alfred Molina, Anthony Higgins
directed by: Steven Spielberg

May 12, 2008
I never watched these as a child as i thought they were boys films but since i now have two sons i decided at the age of 26, i should give them a go and i am so glad i did, I loved all 3 of the films despite many people telling me not to bother with the temple of doom, which in fact was my favourite but a little to dark for my boys. These films have to be the best action adventure films of all time, films which anyone, girls or boys of any age can enjoy. As for this particular boxset, its a good price and has loads of special features, despite what some of the other reviews say, this boxset is a must for everyone

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Never Back Down [2008]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Action and Adventure
starring: Sean Faris, Amber Heard, Cam Gigandet, Evan Peters, Leslie Hope
directed by: Jeff Wadlow

August 18, 2008
..and that's basically it. The plot is virtually identical to the Karate Kid, but without the camp 80's-ness of it. It also parallels the Iliad to a certain degree, which I quite liked, especially since the book was referenced in one scene.

Decent action sequences though if you can overcome the paucity of the plot, which is, lets face it, thoroughly predictable. Decent lead actor, looking not like Ralph Macchio, but more a young Tom Cruise, and another example of just how good an actor Dijmon Hounsou is, even outside of real character roles.

I thought I'd grown out of this type of, well, cr*p, but I was entertained. I don't much like the concept of UFC/MMA, especially not portrayed as a rite of passage, but the violence was contextual without glamorising it too much, ... Read More:

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Batman Begins - 1 Disc Edition [2005]

Childrens Toy Shop > DVD > Action and Adventure
starring: Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe

January 23, 2006
The producers have invested a lot of solid ideas to provide foundations for a successful future in this Lazarus of film franchises. Tim Burton initially gave Batman a solid, dark-fairytale start, over time it slipped from surreal quirkyness to awful, cliché ridden pantomime - seemingly killing off any chance of a further sequel. It needed totally gutting and building from scratch, a genuine re-imagining was required for it to be taken seriously again - and here it is...

Normally you watch a super-hero film and you are expected to simply accept the implausible situations and the gadgets used. You don't question them, but here we get an explanation of how things come to be - from the batsuit, the batcave, even the trusty old grapple hook. We get a believable character in a pretty realistic ... Read More: